We
have reported previously about the development of the SELNEC/GMT standard
vehicle from the very first prototype, Atlantean EX1 (PNF 941J) in 1970 through
a series of developments within the 1815 production standards on Atlantean and
Fleetline chassis from 7001 to 8765 between 1970 to 1984 and then the
development through prototype vehicles and production vehicles of adapting the
standard body to fit second generation rear engined chassis, in particular
Olympians and Dominators, etc.Indeed
we recap the circumstances below.

Background
Information

Greater
Manchester Transport was keen to trial a number of new second generation rear
end chassis and in doing so asked its bodybuilder, Northern Counties, to adapt
the Standard body to fit, and they did so with Fodens, Dennis Dominators, Volvo
Ailsas, Scanias, Dennis Falcons and Volvo Citybuses.

Fleet
Numbers

Chassis / Body

No of trial
vehicles

1435 -
1436

Foden /
Northern Counties

2

1437 -
1440

Dennis
Dominator / Northern Counties

4

1446 -
1448

Volvo
Ailsa / Northern Counties

3

1451

Leyland
Olympian / Northern Counties

1

1461 -
1462

Scania /
Northern Counties

2

1471 -
1473

Dennis
Falcon / Northern Counties

3

1481 -
1483

Volvo
Citybus / Northern Counties

3

The Olympian
was the most successful second generation rear engined chassis bodied for
Greater Manchester, and although there was only one prototype (1451) it spawned
305 production vehicles all bodied by Northern Counties. Although an entirely
different body was constructed for 1451, in order that the Standard body used on
Atlanteans and Fleetlines could be utilised for the production Olympians, a
spacing pillar was put on the upper deck after the first window which allowed
Standard window fittings to be used on 3001 and the production Olympians. This
meant they were much more in keeping with the Standard body used on Atlanteans
and Fleetlines as opposed to 1451 which utilised a different approach. Although
the front and back end had to be altered to fit the new chassis dimensions.

There were four
trial Dennis Dominators bodied by Northern Counties for GMT and these saw 40
subsequent production vehicles. There was an initial run of 30 in 1984, from
2001 to 2030, and ten more in 1990, 2031-2040, which had the further upgraded
Northern Counties Standard body used on Scanias 1463 to 1467, and Volvo
Citybuses 7001 to 7010, with diptac fittings and new moquette.

3001 was
Leyland Olympian chassis No. 475 and Northern Counties body No. 2386 and was
built in between Atlantean 8580 and 8581, and featured the alloy body
arrangement that was then the Northern Counties Standard body.

3001 was
prepared for launch at the 1982 Commercial Vehicle Motor Show and carried a
number of unusual features not replicated when 3002 onwards were built in 1983
when Olympian vehicles went into full production. Whilst it carried the new
1981 livery of white, orange and brown it had a thin brown line between the
white and orange at the bottom of the upper deck windows and a white line on the
beading separating the orange and brown on the lower deck skirt panels. It also
had brown wheels rather than the grey spiggot mounted colour 3002 onwards were
to carry. For its Motor Show appearance it had a special non standard moquette
fitted of red, orange and yellow stripes set in a beige background and all its
internal transfers were in a variety of different coloured printing of green,
red and black on white with odd blue and yellow examples. Because of the low
height of the Olympian it could not fit the standard Manchester three part
destination blind set. 1451 had been
trialled
with a single line dot matrix but 3001 had conventional blinds at the front but
in a narrow line up of just a destination blind followed by the route number.
This allowed the fleet number to be depicted in the centre of the mid deck panel
above the windscreen.

It had painted
on white lettering on the orange paintwork just beneath the upper deck windows
on both nearside and offside, the words “The 1250th Standard Body
supplied by Northern Counties to Greater Manchester”. Finally, as a finishing
touch its front panel, hinged side panels and two rear heater vent panels all
had their coach key holes finished off with spring loaded chrome clips – 26 in
all. After the Motor Show had ended in October 1982 the vehicle went for a
series of trials, not entering service until February 1983. It did so in its
Motor Show condition except that the front destination display had been changed
to the standard three position compact layout that was to be the standard for
the future and was used on 3002 onwards, with 1451 being altered a short time
later. It soon also had its wheels painted grey to depict that they were
spiggot mounted.

3001 had the
registration number ANA 1Y. It was intended that the first 25 production
Leyland Olympians were to be registered as ANA 1Y - ANA 25Y, but delivery
problems prevented this from happening and only the first ten received these
registrations. The production scheme at Northern Counties indicated that the
vehicles were built alongside Atlanteans in the following sequence; 8520-8580,
3001, 8581-8627, 3002-3006, 1461-1462, 8628-8633, 3007, re-bodied 2413 & 6912,
8634-8650, 3008-3009, 8651-8657, 3010. The first 10 vehicles had Leyland TL11
engines making them type ONTL11/1R and had H43/30F bodywork.

These vehicles,
and the next 15 (3011-3025) were Bristol built Olympians since the Olympian was
being introduced as a replacement for the Bristol VR, which had been their main
double-deck vehicle, built at the Bristol factory. The next 15 Olympians built
had moved into a different registration sequence in that they were now 'A'
Registration, and because at that time it was impossible to secure any numbers
lower than 21, 3011-3020 were delivered as 'off the shelf' numbers A576 HDB-A585
HDB and the remaining five - 3021-3025 were A21 HNC-A25 HNC.

There was also
a change in engine designation during this batch of 15 vehicles, in that the
first five - 3011-3015 continued with the Leyland engine design, ONTL11/1R,
whilst 3016 had a Gardner engine ONLXB/1R, then 3017-3025 had Gardner engines
ONXLCT/1R. The seating arrangements remained the same, H43/30F. However,
3011-3013 and 3022 onwards had the new full length long hopper windows, and
3014-3021 were the last Olympians to be built with the shorter hopper windows.
These buses were also built back-to-back with Atlanteans, as follows; 3011-3014,
8675-8684, 3015-3018, 8685-8688, 3019, 8689-8693, 3020-302l, 8694-8700,
1471-1473, 3022-3025.

These first 24
Olympians also had a low driving position which was to change from 3025 onwards
and on the Bristol built Olympians, 3001-3025, the water filler was on the
nearside of the buses, with a spring-loaded catch over it. From the next batch
to be delivered, 3026 onwards, the water filler cap was to be moved as an
exposed facility on the offside of the vehicles. Also, these first 25 Olympians
had a heating arrangement facility vent on the offside rear of the vehicle in
the mid-deck panel. There were experiments with a new heating system on 8620,
and this was fitted to 3025, under the staircase behind the driver's cab, which
necessitated the fitting of two vents at the top and bottom of the panel on the
exterior of the vehicle between the driver's window and the first passenger
window.

Indeed, 3025
had both original and new heating units on board, but from 3026 onwards, the
previous heating arrangement was abandoned and the higher driving position
retained. Consequently there was no vent on the mid-deck panel at the rear of
the nearside, but all future vehicles had the arrangement of the heating under
the staircase with the adapted vents on the panel at the top and bottom, behind
the driver's window. 3025 looks odd, having both of these arrangements.
However, for some reason or other, a reversion took place and five vehicles were
fitted with the earlier heating arrangement, being 3086-3089 and 3091.

The next
delivery of vehicles starting at 3026 saw the chassis designation changed, and
3026-3035 were Voith gearbox ONLXBA/1R, and 3036 to the final vehicle 3305 were
ONXLB/1R. The SELNEC Preservation Society has a Voith gearbox example 3030 (A30
ORJ).

We consequently
identified that having set about securing the first prototype Bristol Olympian
B45/05 for Greater Manchester 1451 (NJA 568W) that we needed to compliment this
vehicle by obtaining 3001 (ANA 1Y) the first standard production Olympian, which
had appeared at the Commercial Vehicle Motor Show in 1982. 3001 went into
service with Greater Manchester Transport at Northenden and subsequently
Stockport. Subsequently, its ownership passed to Greater Manchester Buses and
Greater Manchester Buses (South) Limited, eventually ending up the property of
Stagecoach Manchester upon their acquisition of this company. Consequently we
made contact originally with GM Buses then GM Buses South Limited and
subsequently Stagecoach Manchester to alert them to our interest in the vehicle
so that upon it being taken out of service it would hopefully be offered to us
for preservation rather than being sold to subsequent operator, as happened with
1451 or inadvertently scrapped. In this regard Stagecoach Manchester and, in
particular, Les Warneford, Managing Director of UK Bus Operations of the
Stagecoach Group, has been most helpful and supportive.

Of the 15
Standard Olympians delivered to GMT with Leyland TL11 engines, five of these
3011-3015 had gone to First Manchester, but the first ten, because of the
arbitrary distribution of vehicles when Greater Manchester buses split North and
South on 1st April 1994, remained in the south of Manchester and passed
subsequently to Stagecoach Manchester. 3005, unfortunately, was the victim of a
fire on the upper deck, which was burnt out and scrapped some years ago, leaving
nine Leyland engined production Olympians with Stagecoach Manchester.

Initially
3001-3004, 3006 and 3009-3010 were painted in Magic Bus blue livery straight
from their GM Buses South orange livery, but 3007 and 3008 went into Stagecoach
white livery with blue/orange/red stripes, although shortly thereafter they were
painted blue in the Magic Bus colours to join their seven counterparts.

Once the
Atlanteans had been withdrawn and more Olympians were being painted in Magic Bus
colours, these odd nine Leyland engined Olympians were identified as being
non-standard compared to their Gardner engined counterparts, and Stagecoach
Manchester sought to transfer them to other Stagecoach companies. In this
regard 3001-3003 went to Stagecoach Ribble on 15th January 1999 and
received for the first time Stagecoach white and coloured striped livery. 3004
and 3007-3010 had been sent earlier to Stagecoach Cheltenham and Gloucester.

By January 2001
only 3006 of the Leyland engined vehicles remained at Stagecoach Manchester, and
this was only because of the fact that it had a substantial amount of work
undertaken on it as a result of an accident and a need to replace its gearbox.
Indeed, it was reinstated and repainted early in 2001 and was then regularly
seen in service on the 192 Magic Bus route on Stockport Road, amongst other
Magic Bus routes operated by Hyde Road.

Since 3001-3003
were transferred to Stagecoach Ribble as their 2147/2149/2150, we had been in
regular contact with the Managing Director of that company, originally Michael
Chambers and more recently Nigel Barratt. We had also maintained contact with
the Managing Director of Stagecoach UK Bus Operations, Les Warnerford, who had
originally been the Managing Director of Stagecoach Manchester when 3001
operated there. He had subsequently been responsible for Midlands and North
West Stagecoach bus operations before taking on his UK-wide role. Our contact
with him was to become invaluable with matters that developed in March and April
2001 when we discovered that Stagecoach Holdings Plc was to sell a good
proportion of its Ribble operation to Blazefield Holdings, and that this would
include 3001-3003.

In fact these
three vehicles, ANA 1Y-ANA 3Y, appeared on the asset transfer schedule and we
were faced with the uncertain future that if 3001 passed to Blazefield Holdings
Plc, there was no guarantee that we could secure the vehicle for preservation in
the future, which was something that for many years Stagecoach had indicated
would be a realistic possibility.

Acquisition of 3001

Bearing in mind
how busy Stagecoach must be with its bus operations across the UK and all the
work that must have gone into the sale of a considerable number of Stagecoach
Ribble vehicles to Blazefield Holdings, the fact that Stagecoach intervened with
the future of 3001 (ANA 1Y) was quite extraordinary. With just one week to go
before the transfer, on Sunday morning, 8th April 2001, as a result of a liaison
between Les Warnerford (Managing Director of Stagecoach UK bus operations),
Nigel Barratt (Managing Director of Stagecoach Ribble) and Tom Wileman (Managing
Director of Stagecoach Manchester), an extraordinary exercise took place.

3006 (ANA 6Y)
was taken out of service and driven in Magic Bus blue and yellow colours from
Hyde Road to Stagecoach Ribble's premises in Blackburn, and the driver returned
to Manchester with 3001 in Stagecoach Ribble white and striped livery. The
vehicle was parked up at Hyde Road, effectively swapping ANA 6Y for ANA 1Y,
thereby keeping 3001 in Stagecoach ownership. Subsequently, 3002, 3003 and 3006
passed to Blazefield Holdings the following weekend, on 15th April 2001,
allocated to their Burnley & Pendle operation.

Upon being
returned to Greater Manchester on 8th April 2001, 3001 was parked up at Hyde
Road in the reserve fleet in order that it would be available should it be
needed for supplementary operational services. However, having the Leyland TL11
Engine it was on odd vehicle as it was the only remaining Leyland engined
Olympian in the Stagecoach Manchester fleet, all the others having Gardner
engines.

As a
consequence of the way matters developed with vehicle requirements, a number of
Olympians were taken out of service even ones with Gardner engines and put in
reserve or sent to other operating companies and a number of Dennis Dominators
had also been taken out of service, Including 2001 (B901 TVR) in which we were
also interested, as a future addition to our collection. It became apparent by
the Autumn of 2001 that Stagecoach would not need 3001 to supplement its
operational vehicles and consequently it became available for disposal and
acquisition by the SELNEC Preservation Society in order to ensure its continued
existence by entering the ranks of preservation.

We visited
Stagecoach's Hyde Road Depot to undertake the formal transfer of ownership of
this vehicle to the SELNEC Educational Trust on Thursday 29th November 2001
which was a particularly fraught and difficult day for the Management and
Engineers at Stagecoach Manchester as two of their vehicles had been involved in
two fatalities that very day, but this did not detract them from allowing the
transfer of title to take place.

Subsequently,
after discussions and negotiations the vehicle was collected on Saturday 8th
December 2001. Upon arriving at the Hyde Road Depot at 8.00 am. on that morning
we noted the vehicle had been parked up ready for us on charge in order that we
could unplug it and drive it away. Unfortunately, we did experience a few
electrical problems with the gear changing unit, but engineers from Stagecoach
Manchester most helpfully swapped a control unit over from 3154 and the bus was
then fully mobile.

Since being
returned to Hyde Road at Stagecoach Manchester on 8th April 2001 the bus had
continued displaying 2147, its Ribble fleet number and in fact Stagecoach
Ribble's vinyls and legal lettering. We were helpfully given a set of
Stagecoach Manchester vinyls and legal lettering for the bus with a view to
rallying it in its Stagecoach stripes and colours as a Stagecoach Manchester
vehicle. We also returned its fleet number to 3001. We
realise
it never actually ran for Stagecoach Manchester in white with blue, orange and
red stripes, only running in this livery for Stagecoach Ribble as it only
actually ran in Manchester in GM Buses’ white, orange and whortleberry, and in
Stagecoach Manchester’s Magic Bus blue livery. However, we intended to display
it as a Stagecoach Manchester vehicle at rallies, road runs and shows in
recognition of the support and help this company has given us before we started
to return it to its original 1982 condition.

3001
fortunately passed its MOT on 2nd May 2002 after having had some work carried
out on it at Whittakers Coach Travel and it was returned to Leigh on Saturday
11th May 2002. Thereafter on the various working days that followed working
alongside 7077 and 5320, fitting into the busy schedule of activity on 408 and
5001, activities took place with 3001. On the working days we ensured that the
outside of the bus was tidied up and all the windows inside and outside were
thoroughly cleaned. A replacement driver’s door we fitted was painted and all
the wheels were tyre
walled black.

The Museum of
Transport in Manchester delivered to us a single piece front destination display
similar to the one that that appeared on 3001 for its attendance at the 1982
Commercial Vehicle Motor Show. This was put into stock to be used when the
vehicle is returned to its original 1982 condition. However, one difficulty
did emerge with the bus on working day, Sunday 11th August 2002, when moving it
forward as clouds of smoke came out of the electrical panel on the right hand
side of the cab with a disturbing smell of burning which quickly alerted us to
turn the isolator off and start to investigate. We discovered that one or two
of the switches, in particular the main light switch, were faulty and that some
insulation had come away arcing out. Also air gauge number two did not seem to
be holding all its air and we discovered a break in one of the air pipes. This
caused us to examine the bus quite carefully to put everything right.

Having had all
this work carried out 3001 was washed at the local car wash facility that day,
which has a large jet wash area which allows a bus to be washed in four wash
cycles, two on the front and nearside and two on the rear and offside before
being parked up in Leigh ready to attend the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Really
on Sunday 1st September 2002 in Stagecoach stripes which it did with 7077, 408,
5001 and 5320.

Restoration of 3001

After 3001 had
returned from the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally on 1st September 2004 –
which featured the full restoration of 5001 (GBU 1V) as featured in Volume 5,
Number 6, our November 2002 edition it was put into storage whilst
rectification work continued on Leyland National 105 (HNB 24N) and Dennis Domino
1751 (C751 YBA). However, a full inspection of the bus was undertaken in
October 2003.

In its 17 years
of operating service many aspects have been changed on 3001, although generally
speaking most of the
aluminium
panels are quite straight. However, we engaged the assistance of our member and
self employed bodybuilder, Jason Hartley, to replace the nearside corner panel
between the front and nearside upper deck windows; to remove the conventional
front destination panel and winding gear and refit the Motor Show destination
display gear and cut and fit the front destination panel to fit whilst
repositioning the alarm hatch to its original position; replace the windscreens
with the original design reflecting the appropriate application of heater
strips; replace the clear nearside/frosted offside fog lights/spotlights that
had been removed; re-panel any dented panels and fit four new hinged access
panels on the offside; fit three new access panels on the nearside; tidy up the
rear, re-fit a spare bonnet; replace the rear lights with the appropriate units,
343 VRFS, resourced from BMAC in Hyde, Greater Manchester.

In addition, it
was identified that a number of the upper deck windows have been etched at some
point in its past history and Auto Windscreens were engaged to replace these
windows which are two upper deck front windows, offside and nearside upper deck
rear windows, upper deck nearside clear three, hopper four and hopper five,
upper deck nearside hopper three and hopper four.

Jason Hartley
commenced the preliminary activities in removing parts from the vehicle on
Tuesday 11th November 2003 and has been helped with parts from scrap vehicles
3180 and 5308. In addition, we were allowed to secure some Olympian parts from
3024 and 3031 before they were towed off to Barnsley during a brief visit to
Stagecoach’s Hyde Road Yard on Friday morning, 5th December 2003.

On Saturday 7th
February 2004 the task of removing all the upper and lower deck seat frames on
the bus was commenced and was concluded on Friday 27th February 2004.
Thereafter, all the seat backs were removed from the seat frames and an
inspection undertaken on them because unfortunately, particular those on the
upper deck, the melamine has either been badly damaged or scratched.

Thereafter,
over the next few working days through March and April 2004 members went through
spare seat backs that have been obtained in the past from scrap vehicles and
have managed to put together a full set with decent melamine in order that these
can be re-covered.

Jason Hartley
had hoped to have concluded the work on the exterior of the vehicle by the end
of February 2004, but was delayed. However, he had partially returned the front
destination display to its original Motor Show condition and has undertaken
quite a bit of work on the lower fibreglass front and the windscreen surround
area. Also some of the damaged panels on the nearside had been replaced and
this is the progress he had made when our working days returned to Leigh on
Sunday 25th April 2004 when a large contingent of
members set to work on rectifying other aspects of this vehicle which involved
the cleaning out of the inside, scraping the floors of all chewing gum, etc.

Work commenced on sanding
down the rusted area on the seat frames and re-oxiding them and paint stripping
work began on the many coats of paint on the four wheels and on some areas of
the aluminium body work where bubbling had been identified under the beading.

On the first 25 Olympians
the rear upper deck emergency window is different in that it is all glass
resting on a rubber surround and not supported by a frame, a construction that
was changed to a stronger format from 3026 onwards with the glass being set in a
frame. Unfortunately, this window is etched on 3001 and therefore we had to get
a spare from a vehicle in the same batch and did so with the kind permission of
Stagecoach Manchester from 3024 (A24 HNC). However, that too had been etched
and therefore Auto Windscreens took that away to use as a template and made a
new piece of toughened back window glass to be refitted to 3001 with the hinges,
levers, etc.

Unfortunately, working
conditions are not ideal and in some cases windows have not been removed from
this bus for many years and therefore it took three visits by Auto Windscreens
on 17th March 2004, 16th
April 2004 and 7th May 2004.

On the working day Sunday 16th
May 2004, the control unit and one trans-sign flip-over route number box
unit were returned from Alliance Electronics who had serviced them, only to
discover that despite the boxes we had came out of sister vehicles 3012 and 3015
they were not compatible as they are three track numbers and the ones on 3001
are four tracks. Consequently, on this day the two units on 3001 were taken off
the bus and taken to Alliance Electronics thereafter for repair.

Over a series
of working days between May and August 2004 the entirety of the inside of the
vehicle was completed. All the melamine has been cleaned and all the
aluminium
on the windows and window hoppers on both the interior and
exterior of the vehicle cleaned with Solvol Autosol bringing the aluminium up to
a presentable appearance. The upper deck heater vents have been painted in the
appropriate colour of light brown and both decks of the vehicle have had their
floors painted in the appropriate light brown deck tread paint. All the seat
frames that were removed have been sanded down, red oxided and painted in the
appropriate dark brown gloss paint and been refitted to the bus. The cab area
has been cleaned and painted as has the area around the windscreen and the air
doors. All the transfers have been removed because this particular vehicle had
a special set of green and red transfers when it appeared at the 1982 Commercial
Vehicle Motor Show, which are going to be replicated as part of its
rectification.

On the exterior of the
vehicle extensive work was undertaken to paint strip, down to the bare metal,
all the beading on the mid deck and lower deck of the bus and to sand down where
all the transfers had been and where in particular the red, orange and blue
stripes had been applied. A small number of dents were filled and sanded as
well in order to prepare the vehicle for its eventual re-painting.

Jason Hartley was unable to
finish work on the bus at Leigh so on Sunday 1st
August 2004 it was back-end towed to S & T Coach Painters in Blackburn, who
continued the rectification of the bodywork commencing on 9th
August 2004.

The bodywork carried out was
to finish the front end in terms of replicating as near as possible the unique
destination and route number panel, fitting a replacement windscreen surround,
exchanging the windscreens for ones with the correct heater strips and the
re-hanging and refitting of the lower fibreglass front. This was made up of a
corner panel on the nearside from a ex-Greater Manchester Fleetline operated by
Chester City Transport, the right hand corner panel used was in First Manchester
red having come off an Olympian and the centre panel from Stagecoach Magic Bus
3024.

In addition whilst the
vehicle was at S & T Coach Painters in Blackburn they replaced four panels on
the lower deck nearside and two panels on the lower deck offside. In addition,
they recreated the three hinged hatch panels on the lower deck skirting on the
nearside of the bus and four similar panels on the lower deck skirting on the
offside. On the back end they replaced the bonnet with a spare obtained some
time ago from 3015 and refitted the correct rear light units that we had
provided for them. Whilst working on the front end they attended to the roof
dome and also fitted the new windscreen wipers and wing mirrors we had supplied
to them.

One of the most difficult
aspects we have had to address in trying to return this vehicle to its original
1982 Motor Show condition is to secure the correct moquette. This bus had a
beige moquette with red, orange and yellow stripes known as sunburst and despite
months of discussions and negotiations with Holdsworths, who own the right to
this design having purchased the company Firths who originally made it,
eventually notified us that they were not prepare to make the 40 to 60 metres we
needed in the pattern shop and were only prepared to make a minimum quantity of
350 metres in the main factory at standard price or 70 metres at premium price
of £49.00 per metre for a small quantity. However, it came to our attention
that a number of companies had purchased an updated version of this design of
moquette until a few years ago, before Firths had been acquired by Holdsworths.
During the Leyland event on 11th July 2004 certain members identified
that a very similar moquette had been used to re-trim ex-Ribble Leyland
Atlantean 1481 (TRN 481V). Consequently, enquiries were made of Stagecoach
North West on 22nd July 2004 and the Engineering
Director, Paul Lee, identified a quantity of the appropriate moquette in the
stores which he had delivered to the depot in Preston and which we collected in
our member, Colin McKay’s Leyland National 2 Ribble 831 (DBV 831W), on return
from the Blackpool Movin event which was also attended by our own 8001 (XBU
1S).

We are indebted to
Stagecoach Group and in particular, Paul Lee the Engineering Director of
Stagecoach North West, for finding this moquette, letting us acquire it and
donating it to us without charge. This will certainly assist us greatly in
returning the lower deck of the bus to its 1982 Motor Show condition bearing in
mind that only this one vehicle ever carried sunburst moquette and the remainder
of the fleet, 3002 onwards up to 3238, received salt and pepper moquette before
the red herringbone coach seats were introduced.

Consequently on working day,
Sunday 22nd August 2004, this moquette along with
lower deck and backs which had been removed from 3001 were taken to GLG
Coachtrimmers so re-trimming could commence.

3001 was collected from S &
T Coach Painters on Tuesday evening, 17th August 2004,
and driven the short distance to Whittakers of Penwortham where further work was
carried on it. The chassis drive units and under the wheel arch were steam
cleaned and spray painted with anti-corrosive grey paint and the whole exterior
of the bus re-painted in its original white, orange and brown livery with the
special brown line below the upper deck windows and white line on the lower deck
beading, as depicted at the Commercial Vehicle Motor Show in 1982, and also it
depicts brown rather than grey spigot mounted wheels.

The lower deck backs and the
sunburst moquette that we had acquired from Stagecoach North Western were
dropped off with Gordon Morris at GLG Wigan Coach Trimmers on working day Sunday
22nd August 2004 followed by the lower deck cushions
on working day on Sunday 29th August 2004.

Mechanically the vehicle had
a full service with particular attention paid to the power steering that had
become inoperable and the problem with the rear nearside air suspension. The
accelerator that was sticking in the cab was attended to and some of the
fibreglass mouldings on the back end were lined up. Whilst the vehicle was at
Whittakers of Penwortham, S & T visited to finish off some work, fitting the
nearside upper deck window and replacing a driver’s windscreen that had been
cracked whilst the bus had been at their premises. They also fitted glass to the
unique destination display on the front of 3001 as it appeared at the Commercial
Vehicle Motor Show and whilst based here the stair melamine area which had
become damaged was replaced.

On Tuesday evening 7th
September 2004 we visited Whittakers of Penwortham to fit the vehicle
with a full set of external vinyls comprising white Greater Manchester Transport
‘M’ blem fleet names, legal address, fleet numbers and all the small ancillary
transfers for the service areas of the vehicle, such as water, fuel, oil,
emergency exits, etc. Also we had made the very special wording and fitted it
to the nearside and offside just below the upper deck windows on the orange
paintwork “The 1250th Standard Body supplied by Northern Counties to
Greater Manchester”.

The vehicle was then MOT’d
on Friday 10th September 2004 and the final job was to
fit chrome spring loaded silver clips over to the hinge panels that had been
fitted to the vehicle, the lower fibreglass front panel and the two rear
ventilation panels, 26 in all.

On the following Monday 13th September
2004 we took 5001 to Whittakers of Penwortham for the MOT failure suspension
work to be carried out for a re-test and at the same time collected and returned
3001 to our storage premises in Leigh. Thereafter on the next working day,
Sunday 19thSeptember 2004, the entirety of the inside
of 3001 was re-cleaned involving all the melamine, windows, cab area and various
aspects of the paintwork were touched up. At the same time the lower deck seat
backs and cushions were returned from GLG Wigan Coach Trimmers and fitted to the
vehicle and new lenses were put on the front indicator/side light units and side
indicator units. Because Gordon Morris at GLG Wigan Coach Trimmers used up all
the sunburst moquette on the lower deck of the vehicle we were then faced with
the dilemma as to what to do with the upper deck. We had originally selected a
good set of seat backs and cushions for re-covering because of the condition of
the brown melamine and a set of cushions that were in First Manchester red which
would not be of any use to us. However, because the decision was taken to
return the upper deck to the entirety of salt and pepper an enormous exercise
went on during the day of sourcing at decent set of 19 salt and pepper seat
backs and 19 salt and pepper cushions for all the double seat units and we sent
off to GLG Coachtrimmers parts of the upper deck rear five seater unit for
re-covering in salt and pepper.

On the following working
day, Sunday 26th September 2004 the re-covered five
seater unit for upper deck back was collected from GLG Coachtrimmers and
refitted to the bus and all the very special internal transfers that we had made
as depicted at the 1982 Commercial Vehicle Motor Show were fitted. Some of
these were in green and white, red and white, black on white and one yellow and
black transfer and one blue and white transfer. We also fitted new Leyland
scroll badges and an Olympian badge that we had made up.

It was noted at this late
stage that the back of the driver’s seat was quite worn so we took it to our
East Manchester premises to swap it with the good condition back on 3030 on
Saturday 2nd October 2004 to discover the fitting was
entirely different. We therefore dropped it off at GLG Coachtrimmers the
following day, 3rd October 2004, for it to be
re-trimmed in black hide and it was collected along with the two lower deck rear
seat arms rests on Friday 8th October 2004 and fitted
to the bus just one day before the Big Orange event of 9th
October 2004. Also late on we had discovered that we had not replaced
the black cab phone in the bus and this was fitted on this same Friday 8th
October 2004, having been borrowed from 7232 which does not actually need
it in its current state as an exhibition vehicle in any event.

Also again on the last day
before the Big Orange event, Friday 8th October 2004,
two brand new front wheels centre hubs were fitted with red metallic centres
with silver Leyland scroll kindly sent to us by David Wall at North Birmingham
Busways.

The vehicle was launched
fully restored in 1982 Commercial Vehicle Motor Show condition at the Big Orange
event on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th
October 2004. The only aspect we had not managed to resolve by that time
was the side and rear flip over electronic numbers because by the time we had
fitted the three position units that had been serviced by Alliance Electronics
in Sheffield which worked perfectly satisfactorily on the bench we realised that
the wiring on 3001 related to the four position units taken out and we did not
have a chance in the limited amount of time to re-wire it. However, except for
this one minor difficulty the bus was fully completed.

3001 was joined at the Big
Orange event with four other new restorations launched at the same time; 7032 (VNB
132L) open top Atlantean in the GM Buses grey, orange and whortleberry livery
only it carried, 105 (HNB 24N) in GMT metropolitan orange and white livery
applied to this short wheelbase single door Leyland National, 1751 (C751 YBA)
the first of only 34 Dennis Domino chassis and the only remaining example with a
Northern Counties body returned to the unique Centreline livery of orange,
white, yellow and brown. Finally, member Colin McKay’s alloy framed Leyland
Atlantean 8460 (SND 460X) in GM Buses white and orange “People on the Move”
livery.

3001

BATCH:

3001 - 3015

(ANA 1Y)

BODY:

Northern Counties
H43/30F

CHASSIS:

Bristol Olympian
B45 - TL11-2R

FIRST REGISTERED:

1st February 1983 (1982
Commercial Vehicle Motor Show)

PURCHASED:

29th November 2001

DETAILS:

The first production 'Standard' built on the Olympian chassis of which 305 were made and one of only 15 with a Leyland (as opposed to Gardner) engine. For its appearance at the 1982 Commercial Vehicle Motor Show it had a special design of brown/orange/yellow stripped moquette fitted and the wording 'The 1250th standard body supplied by Northern Counties to Greater Manchester' painted just below the upper deck windows.